Ice Capades

A Memoir of Fast Living and Tough Hockey

By: Sean Avery, Michael McKinley

Narrated by: Sean Avery

**One of Sports Illustrated's Best Sports Books of 2017**

Controversial hockey star Sean Avery's no-holds-barred memoir of high living and bad behavior in the NHL—coupled with the behind-the-scenes glitter of celebrity and media nightlife in New York and LA.

As one of the NHL’s most polarizing players, Sean Avery turned the rules of professional hockey on its head. For thirteen seasons, Avery played for some of the toughest, most storied franchises in the league, including the Detroit Red Wings, the Los Angeles Kings, and the New York Rangers, making his mark in each city as a player that was sometimes loved, often despised, but always controversial.

In Ice Capades, Avery takes his trademark candidness about the world of pro hockey and does for it what Jim Bouton's game-changing Ball Four did for baseball. Avery goes deep inside the sport to reveal every aspect of an athlete’s life, from what they do with their money and nights off to how they stay sharp and competitive in the league. While playing the talented villain in the NHL, Avery broke far away from his on-ice character in the off-season, and Ice Capades takes the reader inside the other unexpected and unprecedented roles that Avery inhabited—Vogue intern, fashion model, advertising executive, restauranteur, gay rights advocate, and many more.

Love him or hate him, Sean Avery changed the way professional hockey is played today. Rollickingly honest and compelling throughout, Ice Capades transcends the “sports book” genre and offers a rare, unvarnished glimpse into the world of 21st century hockey through the eyes of one of its most original and memorable players.

Critic reviews

Praise for Ice Capades:

"The one-of-a-kind left winger gives an unparalleled inside look at the NHL lifestyle... whether you cheered or jeered him on the ice, any hockey fan will be interested in the stories he has to tell."
—Hockey News

"Ken Dryden's The Game rewritten by Hunter Thompson...This is the NHL you don't get from post-game scrums."
—The Globe and Mail

"An unusually honest celebrity memoir."
—CT Post

“[Avery’s] voice is energetic and offbeat and his get-real revelations about drugs, team jealousies, and the lingering damage from a violent sport will hold readers’ attentions.”
—Publishers Weekly

Fans of NHLs greatest agitator will love this book

This book was beautifully written in the perspective of Avery, any true hockey fan will love it. It gives you more of an inside look of the day to day of someone in the NHL, and the difficulties and realities they face every day. Loved the book, and it shows a more personal side of Avery. A+

So Great!

Such a hilarious and great story about a great hockey player and his time in the NHL. If The Game is the great book about goal tending, this is the great book about being a hockey player in general. It isn’t your typical story about being a kid playing pond hockey and making it to the NHL with all your hero’s. It’s about celebrity parties, fights, getting the shaft from GMs and all the other realities of playing elite sport. Plus, Sean’s delivery is priceless. A must listen.

An Honest Book from a flawed man

Shocker: athletes are people too. Sean Avery tells the deeply human, and tragically flawed story of the NHL in the pre-and-post lockout years. He pulls no punches, including the ones he throws at himself.

Yes, he has his biases, and probably takes liberties with some of the stories, but the overall tale of a sometimes-arrogant, often insecure kid from small town Canada is fantastic.

It's got everything: rock star stories of excess and decadence, the underdog tale of an undersized kid defying all expectations, tragedy, celebrities, and lots of bad decisions.

Give it a listen, he'll have you hooked from the first page.

great book

great story. surprised me to see a behind the scenes look at a NHL players life

Fun read

Loved the book. It was really neat hearing Avery's point of view, and you get to see Avery the person, as opposed to Avery the player.